The Champions #7
The Champions #7 is the debut issue of Darkstar (Laynia Petrovna), one of Marvel's first major Soviet mutant superheroines and a character who would go on to anchor Cold War-era storylines across multiple titles for decades. Her entrance — as a Darkforce-wielding government operative dispatched to repatriate a defected Black Widow — gave the Champions series its most durable new creation and planted the seed for an ongoing narrative thread about superpower-era ideological conflict. The issue also kicks off the four-part 'Man Who Created the Black Widow' arc, the deepest dive the series took into Natasha Romanoff's origin, making it a pivotal chapter in Black Widow's own historiography. As the last issue entirely written by founding series writer Tony Isabella before Bill Mantlo took over with #8, it stands at a creative handoff point that would define the rest of the Champions' brief run.
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Tony Isabella created the Champions series in 1975 alongside artists Gil Kane and Don Heck, originally conceiving it as a road-trip buddy book starring Iceman and Angel before editor Len Wein expanded the roster to five members. By issue #7 — on sale May 18, 1976 and cover-dated August 1976 — Isabella was writing his final full issue of the series, with Marv Wolfman editing under editor-in-chief Archie Goodwin. George Tuska penciled, Vince Colletta inked, Phil Rachelson colored, and Karen Mantlo lettered the issue; the cover was by Rich Buckler and Frank Giacoia. Bill Mantlo, who had provided one scripting assist earlier in the run, fully took over the title with #8 and stewarded it through cancellation at #17.
Trivia · 7 facts
- First appearance of Darkstar (Laynia Petrovna Krylova), a Soviet mutant with Darkforce manipulation powers, created by writer Tony Isabella and penciler George Tuska.
- Story title: 'The Man Who Created the Black Widow!' — Part 1 of a four-part arc exploring the origins of Natasha Romanoff and her guardian Ivan Petrovich.
- The issue also features Titanium Man (Boris Bullski) and the Griffin (Johnny Horton) as part of a Soviet retrieval squad sent to bring Black Widow back to the USSR.
- Darkstar is introduced as a member of the Soviet task force but defects and fights alongside the Champions; she recurs throughout the rest of the series without ever formally joining the team.
- Tony Isabella's last fully-written issue; Bill Mantlo took over as regular writer with issue #8.
- The issue has been reprinted in: Marvel Super-Heroes (Marvel UK) #364 (1980, black and white), Champions Classic Vol. 1 (2006), Marvel Masterworks: The Champions (2016), Champions Classic: The Complete Collection (2018), and True Believers: Black Widow – Darkstar #1 (December 2020).
- Darkstar's animated debut came in the X-Men: The Animated Series episode 'Red Dawn,' voiced by Elizabeth Rukavina, and she made a cameo in X-Men '97; she is also a playable character in Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2.